Great reading from 2017

The time has come to look back on this year's reading and pick out a dozen favorites - never an easy task. I'm going to skip over a few excellent books that everyone seems to know about, to focus on perhaps less-read choices. These are books that I read in 2017, but some were released prior to this year.


***


His Quiet Agent by Ada Maria Soto - this was my choice for book of the year - Arthur works as an analyst for an intelligence Agency, and he's so quiet and unremarkable that his own superiors sometimes forget who he is. After another lateral move, he's determined to try to stand out, so he goes about making friends in the cafeteria, in that excruciating process of "Is this seat taken?" Along the way, he ends up sitting with the silent guy from the next cubicle. A guy who eats only apple slices for lunch, despite his thinness. A guy who absorbs huge, weighty books as fast as he can turn the pages. A guy who seems supremely uninterested in Arthur, except, except... An asexual guy and a possibly demisexual one meet in a lovely, quiet, understated story about complicated people. The end is sweet and warm and yet leaves a lot of mystery. You have the feeling these guys will be discovering each other for decades to come, and yet the most essential parts have been said. I finished this, read it again, and bought every backlist book by this author that I could find.

Arrows Through Archer by Nash Summers - This story had a wonderful mix of angst and realistic age-gap romance that moved at a slow, believable pace. Archer is a young man who is trapped in his grief for his parents, three years after their sudden death. Part of that trap is that he never had the chance to come out to them. He's never come out to his best friend Danny, either. When he needs a place to stay, Danny brings him home to his father Mallory's remote cabin. Slowly, gradually, what is at first an older man helping a younger in deep need, becomes something more. Archer is an old soul, and Mallory a man who sees the person inside the body of his son's friend. But crossing a seventeen year gap, and the barrier of Danny's relationships with them both, isn't easy.

Seven Summer Nights by Harper Fox - This is a lovely magic-tinged post-WWII historical fantasy. Rufus Denby returned from active service with a significant case of shell-shock. Now, at the end of his mental, emotional, and financial rope, he travels to investigate the ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva. There he comes into the orbit of the Reverend Archie Thorne, a generous young vicar whose own service overseas gives him some insight into Rufus's troubles. Together, they face trouble of both mundane and magical kinds, sharing an adventure to a warm conclusion.

The Family Eternal by James Buchanan - Deputy Joe is one of my favorite characters in M/M - a cop, a Mormon, and a Dom. A quiet, laconic guy, Joe works hard to fit all the parts of who he is together, while staying true to his own integrity and personal faith. In Kabe Varghese, he has a partner who both complements and challenges him. This fifth book in the series is both a procedural mystery and a character-oriented look at two guys figuring out their relationship through changing circumstances. If you haven't met Joe, start with book 1 - Hard Fall.

Dear Mona Lisa... by Claire Davis & Al Stewart - A sweet novella about a shy older man who is in love, but has a hard time coming out to those who matter most. Components of synesthesia, of art, and of family stress make this a quirky, warm, emotional little story.

Sex in C Major by Matthew J. Metzger - This was a challenge and an eye-opener. **trigger warnings for dub-con, suicidal ideation, Master-slave relationship, open menage, etc*** The BDSM is central and intense, the pain and the growth, the intensity of the challenges and risks Stefan faces - as a trans guy whose fantasies include pain and non-con sex - kept me glued to the page. Metzger brings to life characters who are outside my expectations, writing with a clarity and understanding that made me both care and empathize with them. If this author writes it, I'll read it.

The Doctor's Discretion by E.E. Ottoman - a well done historical with genderqueer characters, gay doctors, and the threat in that era of being committed to an insane asylum just for being who you were. More straightforward than deeply angsty, this nonetheless delivers a thoughtful and at times exciting story in a realistic 1830's setting.

The Bones of Our Fathers by Elin Gregory - This book is one of my favorite kinds of comfort reads - a realistic, lovely, gradually building romance about real people with flaws, in a setting with flavor, and some low-key drama. Mal is a PhD archaeologist who has moved to a small town to curate the local museum. He's only been there a couple of months, and has just noticed a very appealing, gay-and-out construction worker, when that man turns up an exciting historical find while doing a road excavation. The book follows the ups and downs of a relationship between two intelligent men who must learn to have more empathy, while the issues of local jurisdiction, small-town customs, ego, and historical preservation play out. I appreciated all the details that made this one feel real.

Wallaçonia by David Pratt - Young Adult - Jim Wallace is a young man of 18, on the brink of adulthood, still in some ways clinging to childhood (and his imaginary safe world of Wallaçonia) by his fingernails. He has a girlfriend he's trying to convince himself he's attracted to, and a gay neighbor, twenty years older than himself, a gregarious bookstore owner. Pat Baxter is magnet and mirror, someone who might help Jim figure out his life, but also a target for Jim's father's casual homophobic mockery. And there's Nate, the memory of a boy Jim drove away with bullying in middle school because his friendship felt like it would pull Jim down instead of elevating him to straight, sterling status. Nate's memory haunts Jim. Shouldn't he try to make that right, before he hits real adulthood? From the initial convoluted style and breathless claustrophobia of the opening, the tone simplifies, as Jim gains clarity. We see Jim slowly, through this book, walk a path of pitfalls and mistakes on the way to finding himself. This one feels painfully real, and very well done.

Dreadnought by April Daniels - Young Adult - In a world of superheroes, Danny is witness to the last battle of Dreadnought, who falls dying nearby, and bequeaths both the mantle of super powers and a physical transformation. Danny has always known she was a girl - now she has a physically female body, but those closest to her still insist that she's male and must be changed back. Set in an adventure of fighting villains, this story touches on transgender identity from a novel angle.

Bonfires by Amy Lane - this was my comfort-read for the year - a warm testament to resilience, and to hope, to a belief in the goodness of many ordinary people. And on top of that, this is a book with two older main characters coping with a complex life - trying to fit their needs, their families, and their responsibilities into a working, loving, functional pattern. Like so many of us. Larx is a gay man with a long-ago bitter divorce, and two daughters, one of whom is still in high school. He's a teacher who allowed himself to be persuaded to become the local principal, because the alternatives were clearly going to damage the kids and school. Aaron is a Sheriff’s Deputy, bisexual, and a widower with a son still at home. He's beginning to think Larx may be the guy who pulls him to explore his same-sex attraction. But a small town's bigotry, and intrigues, school bullying and at-risk teens, make romance hard to focus on for both men. This one touched my heart, as Amy Lane's characters are wont to do.

King Daniel by Edmond Manning - I couldn't end without homage to the sixth and last book in The Lost and Founds series. In this one we see the world through the eyes of Daniel, a lonely and angry man damaged both physically and emotionally by an abusive childhood. As he cruises the Internet, he comes across the story of King Perry. He knows the Lost Kings crap can't be true. It must be urban myth. But he locates a real Perry with a cello out there. Determined to track down the truth of Vin Vanbly, Daniel leaves his solitary home and begins a quest. As we follow his adventures we meet old friends in new ways, answer questions, are surprised, amused, touched, shaken and stirred. A fitting end to an amazing series. I recommend reading in order, starting with King Perry. There's nothing else quite like The Lost and Founds.

And that's my allotted dozen. There were at least a dozen others I could've included, (despite the fact that stress made me do a lot of favorite rereading this year.)

What books would you add to this list? Which stories touched, amused, or enlightened you this year? My TBR list is very long, but I still love adding to it.